Penn State Public Broadcasting’s third installment of the Geospatial Revolution Project deals with the technology in relation to privacy and how geospatial information affects law enforcement, war and diplomacy.

– As police departments around the country consolidate and face tough decisions on how best to use limited resources, geospatial technology has proven to be an asset. Geospatial technology allows law enforcement officials to identify crime hot spots in the communities they serve, so they can dedicate the necessary resources to these areas, thus maximizing efficiency.

Penn State Public Broadcasting’s four-part online video series, the Geospatial Revolution Project, explores the way geospatial information—such as geospatial information systems (GIS), global position systems (GPS), and digital mapping—enhances the lives of individuals as well as the efficiency of institutions like police departments. Episode Three of the series, available now, also focuses on safety, privacy and the use of geospatial technology in warfare and diplomacy.

“A surveillance society is not only inevitable and irreversible, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s irresistible—and it’s not government doing it to us, it’s us doing it to ourselves,” Jeff Jonas, member of the board of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, said. “The more data that is available to us, the more transparent the world becomes.”

The 15-minute episode, which is divided into shorter chapters, explains the challenge of protecting personal privacy while using this technology. Cell phones with geospatial locators can be helpful in an emergency or when lost, but they can also cause harm when they are used against victims of domestic abuse or stalking. The episode identifies the risks that come along with this kind of transparency.

The episode highlights how geospatial technology can help soldiers identify improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and diplomats map human geography to better understand different cultures. Geospatial technology and digital maps were also critical in providing accurate geographic information, which world leaders used in 1995 to redraw borders to help stop the war and mass genocide in Bosnia.

The Geospatial Revolution Project Episode Three, along with the first two episodes and accompanying educational materials, is available at Penn State Public Broadcasting’s website, http://geospatialrevolution.psu.edu online.

The next episode, to be released on May 3, 2011, will explore agriculture and the environment, mapping disease, and human rights and aid.

Penn State Public Broadcasting, licensed to Penn State, produces non-commercial television, radio and online media. Our public service media programming and complementary outreach materials address important societal issues for Pennsylvania, the nation and the world.

STATE COLLEGE — Clad in green and blowing vuvuzelas, thousands of young people swarmed downtown State College on Saturday to celebrate State Patty’s Day, a student-created holiday centered on drinking.

Despite efforts by local officials to tamp down this year’s festivities, State College police Lt. Chris Fishel reported there were more people in town and more crime than last year’s event.

Police responded to more than 110 incidents in a 24-hour period through Saturday morning, about three times as many as a normal Friday night, Fishel said. During the entire State Patty’s Day weekend last year, State College police responded to about 365 calls related to the event, most of them alcohol-related.

Fights, false identification, and public urination and intoxication represented a majority of offenses committed by Saturday afternoon, Fishel said, adding that he expected the revelry to continue until about 4 a.m. today.

A spokeswoman for Mount Nittany Medical Center reported more than 40 people had been treated for alcohol-related injuries and conditions from 9 p.m. Thursday through 9 p.m. Saturday, some with severe injuries.

As with previous years’ festivities, many of those getting in trouble are not Penn State students. Fishel reported misdemeanors involving students from the University of Pittsburgh, St. Joseph’s University, Slippery Rock University, Virginia Tech and the University of West Virginia.

“It’s like a home football night game. People are partying right up to kickoff, except there’s no kickoff,” Fishel said.

Streets downtown began to see State Patty’s Day-related traffic by about 10 a.m. By 2 p.m., there were lines to get int bars, and the sidewalks were packed with revelers. The streets stayed crowded through the afternoon and into the night. At about 9:40 p.m., Indigo, a nightclub at 112 W. College Ave., shut down because of the large crowd that had lined up waiting to get inside, police said. The line stretched to South Fraser Street and was blocking traffic.

Earlier in the day, Andrew and Mark, two young men who wouldn’t give their last names, said they had come from Bucknell University and the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, respectively, for the party.

“There’s no party this size at Bucknell,” Andrew said.

A student from Bloomsburg University, waiting to get into the Gingerbread Man, said he came to State College to see what the hype was about.

“This town is really live,” he said. “It seems like State Patty’s is like a rite of passage for students, and the authorities trying to stop it just make it worse because we’re going to rage either way.”

One young man traveled 14 hours from Alabama to celebrate his first State Patty’s Day. After climbing atop a mound of snow in front of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and posing for pictures with a keg of beer, he expressed his excitement for the alcohol-fueled celebration.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” he said. “My best friend is a junior here, and he’s been trying to get me up here forever. He was recruiting a bunch of us for months. I don’t know any other place that has this much fun.”

When asked if he was drunk, he answered, “If you’re asking me if I’m having fun, my answer is yes.”

Police reported at least four citations that included hospitalization, three of them related to underage drinking:

•At 11:17 p.m. Friday, a 20-year-old man was seen by police falling down repeatedly while walking on McKee Street. After he was brought to Mount Nittany Medical Center for treatment, he became disorderly and had to be restrained and sedated. He will be charged with disorderly conduct.

•A drunken 19-year-old was found trying to enter a house on the 400 block of Martin Terrace at around 11:30 p.m. on Friday. He was also taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center.

•A 16-year-old boy was found intoxicated, lying down and throwing up on the sidewalk on the 500 block of South Pugh Street at 12:52 a.m. Saturday. He was hospitalized and will be charged with providing false information to police.

•A man who passed out drunk in the lobby of the Days Inn at 240 S. Pugh St. at 3:31 a.m. Saturday also took a trip to the hospital.

Not everyone out on the streets downtown Saturday was out to party. A few local churches had a stand set up on McAllister Street and were handing out free hot chocolate and water.

“We’re just trying to keep people hydrated and keep some kids out of the hospital,” volunteer Kim Dick said.

Cliff White can be reached at 235-3928. Wildamie Ceus is a journalism student at Penn State.

You know that photo of you, bleary-eyed and smiley, red plastic cup in hand? You know the one. You look like a hot, drunk mess, your friend keeps tagging you in it, it’s on Facebook for the whole Internet to see? That one. I bet you’d be having words with your tag-happy little pal if the UA administration were keeping tabs on your profile.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, much of the discussion at the National Conference on Law and Higher Education centered around issues presented by Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. These issues have colleges wondering if there is a need to police the Internet in order to monitor what their students and faculty members are doing or posting online.

In May 2006, Stacey Snyder was a student at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, just days away from her graduation at the time. Then the university denied her a teaching degree. The university claimed it was because a photo on her MySpace profile. Remember, it was 2006 and people still used MySpace.

The photo in question was captioned “Drunken Pirate” and featured Snyder in a pirate hat and drinking from a red plastic cup. According to the university, it promoted underage drinking. Snyder was 25 years old then, and working as a student teacher at a high school. She maintained the photo was taken off campus and after school hours at a costume party.

Snyder sued Millersville University for refusing her a degree, citing it as a violation of her right to free speech. She eventually earned an English degree instead. A federal judge ruled against her in 2008. According to The Washington Post, university officials said the case was not an issue of First Amendment rights, but of performance. The photo, they said, was just one example of many that Snyder did not deserve a degree in education.

Some colleges have codes of conduct and policies pertaining specifically to social media. Concordia University expects students to “assume the responsibility for the content posted and are subject to sanctions” if that content violates Concordia’s conduct code.

These policies also sometimes attempt to address online harassment, especially in response to cases like Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who killed himself after his roommate secretly recorded him with another man on a webcam. The problem is defining what online bullying is, and where to draw the line between offensive speech and speech that legitimately interferes with someone else’s education.

Cases like Snyder’s or Clementi’s, and discussions like the one at the National Conference on Law and Higher Education, ask: How should a university babysit what its students and employees post on the Internet? Should there be any obligation to do so?

I don’t actually know how much of a reach a social media policy should have. While universities wrestle with the wording of policies that people won’t read anyway, students ought to take responsibility on an individual basis, of their own accord. You’ve had a few too many if you think an employer should be able to find your record for tequila shots via Google.

There are existing precautions for making sure anything that the university, or a future employer, could deem inappropriate and against any code of conduct is hidden. Set your profile to private. Google yourself. If you can still find your Facebook, be more private. The same applies to every hash tag you use on Twitter, each photo you reblog on Tumblr, everything.

But more importantly, remember that privacy settings only go so far. The fact that university administrations are beginning to wonder if they are obligated to include social media clauses in their student and faculty conduct policies should be an embarrassment to all of us. Only the most naive people expect you to avoid all college kid shenanigans. But everyone should expect you to keep them offline.

For the sake of making sure you don’t lose your degree because you had to be a drunken pirate, think before you post.
— Kristina Bui is the opinions editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.

STATE COLLEGE — Every Tuesday for the first 12 weeks of the fall semester, police officers and Penn State and borough officials meet to digest the weekend happenings in the four neighborhoods near campus where town-gown relations are often strained.

The group — dubbed First 8, or F8, when it started in the fall of 2007 — tries to get to student and non-student residents early in the academic year, giving them information about what’s expected of them when they live in State College.

“Data that we’ve looked at historically are that the largest number of issues that occur in the community occur during the first few weeks of the fall semester when classes start up and students return to campus, it tends to be a busier time,” said Borough Manager Tom Fountaine.